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They were trying Redd's plan, they just had to find the right moment, and then everything would be fine, he just had to last until then, his fingers were scratching the lever so hard his nails were cracking, he could've been bleeding but at this point, he didn't care, it just had to be the right moment, he could've pulled the lever then, but he felt something pulling him back, he felt Naos eyes boring into the back of his skull, and he knew she felt the same restless hunger, the solidarity between a wolf and her prey
His neck felt hot, he was throwing questions he didn't care about back and forth, he beat any interesting gossip out of these people weeks ago, and he kept looking to Redd, sick feelings for him getting in the way of his judgment like usual, he trusted him to pull the lever, he had to so he would, he feels so very hungry, he needs this to end now, they won't stay in the fucking chairs, a constant game of charming them back down, to no click of the lever, it's not the right moment, it never is
This time he couldn't get them to sit back down, and when they stood up so did he, looking down into Redd's empty eyes, asking without words for him to do anything, Lamb's forced docility felt like weights on his spine, he is burning , it's all static, it's all melting together, he didn't notice them pull out the bottle, he didn't know, none of them did.
The smash of the glass on his face felt blinding, he heard screaming and yelling, most of it his ¨You fucking bitch ¨ he spat, the potion burning his skin and tongue, turning away from Redd into a new flavor of death, he is not invulnerable, he can feel something tear under his hands ¨Really?¨ Pop, ¨Really.¨ he can't hear anything but his own voice and cracks in the glass of replies, he feels underwater, he might be, the ground is moving but he can't
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He opens his eyes, palms folded together in front of him, poised, perfect, the familiar flavor of iron still in his mouth, eyes to the ground where they belong, not looking at her, he still knows how he has to behave
¨That's an Anemone fish¨ His docile numb trance is broken as she gently touches her cold hand to his cheek, and pulls his head towards the fish, Its orange shimmer in the water reflecting back into his eyes like studio lights ¨We call them that cause they are the only ones capable of living in an Anemone without getting hurt¨ She won't look at him, she never does, the heart of her conduit is the only one beating, he wishes his father were here
¨The Anemone protects its host like it's her child, she feeds it, keeps it safe, and the host, in turn, lures smaller fish into the Anemone so she can feed, Its sim-bee-o-tuck¨ She strings her words together so sweetly, but he doesn't know what they mean, not yet, but she looks down at him, finally, and knowingly smiles, her eyes are blinding, soft golden prisms dancing in Lamb's eyes, beautiful and so very unfamiliar, her hand gently brushing through his hair ¨Doesnt that sound familiar?¨
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He wakes drenched in sweat, he feels torn apart, and there is blood under his fingernails, his. Maybe theirs? All he knows is that it is staining the silk-pink bedsheets, he smells the sweet scent of the poison's decaying his frigid body and feels it swilling through his veins, pumping through the arteries in his rotten heart, this should hurt, it should hurt, why doesn't it hurt?
He feels cold, he can fully hear the screaming now, the cries, the fighting, the running. He is so very afraid, this bed is empty, he is alone, he doesn't want to die, he doesn't know if he can, and he doesn't want to see what they'll do to him if he can't, he can't go through that again
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Fresh blood in the water, her circling like a shark, if only she knew ¨Staying and dying will only hurt your sister more¨ she soothed, this is the only time she was his mother, the only time she truly cared, the water a gentle embrace ¨Its time to go¨ it was a command, he couldn't say no even if he wanted too, but it still felt like she was begging him, to spare any pain to the child she loved, the child he wishes he were, but she is right, its time to go, please go
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He is falling in and out of consciousness, feeling smaller than he is, and he ruins the last part of him that wants to protect the woman ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶ he loves, the part that wants to scratch and tear till he destroys himself, and throws his weak body down the stairs in the mine shaft, weak gangly legs stumbling down slick cobblestones like a sick ewe, if they wanted to find him they'd just need to follow the scratches he knows he is leaving on the walls
He stays down here for hours, it feels like days, the darkness so consuming he couldn't tell if his eyes were open or closed, he wishes he could still breathe so that he could simulate a presence near him, eventually Cal and Redd find him, Caldegas anger and her concern fighting a losing battle between each other, he hides his face in the nape of her neck so he doesn't have to look the other ghost in the room in the eyes, it wouldn't be hard to kill him now, but it wouldn't be very fun, and he knows the hunt is on
He hopes that the wolf is the one to consume him in the end